Margaret Roach’s Magical Garden
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Today, Margaret Roach’s all-new 21st anniversary edition of her first award-winning book, A Way to Garden, makes its way into the world.
It’s 300+ pages, nearly twice as thick as the original, packed with color photos, and totally revamped to reflect forty years of wisdom and insight, most importantly the changes in how Margaret gardens today. For gardeners of all kinds and at all skill levels, it’s a dream, a treasure trove of knowledge. Some highlights for me include:
- 18 Seed-Starting Tips
- 13 Things About Growing Tomatoes
- Organic Lawn Care
- A Must-Have Rose
- Not Your Average Morning Glories
- Growing Potatoes
- Making Compost
I could list so much more, not to mention the touching stories (like one about sisterhood, which made me cry).
Though my garden is wee, Margaret and her website are a constant source of inspiration and a resource I turn to again and again. She taught me how to freeze parsley (and other herbs) and the trick to growing cilantro — hint, as Margaret says: “sow, sow, sow again.” She also introduced me to Craig LeHoullier, his book, and Dester tomatoes, which my husband started from seed a few weeks ago in our basement. I cannot wait for summer.
I recently visited Margaret and her garden, and I’ve included a few snaps below. But before you get lost in the wonderland that is Margaret’s backyard…
A Few Things:
- Margaret is hosting a big giveaway featuring some of her favorite garden gear.
- May 11th: Visit Margaret’s Garden, Take a Class, Buy Plants, Listen to a Lecture, & More (Come! I’ll be there, too!)
- Read more about Margaret’s book here (or in The Washington Post!)
- UPDATE: GIVEAWAY is CLOSED. WINNER IS KATHRYN RICHTER.
To enter to win a copy of A Way to Garden, leave a comment below. Tell me your favorite vegetable and your favorite way to cook or eat it. Good luck! - ALSO: Instagram Friends: There is giveaway over there, too: a signed copy of A Way to Garden
Some snaps from Margaret’s garden: A sea of hellebores.
Backyard pond, where Margaret’s friends are known to take baths, and …
… where Margaret finds salamander egg beds while skimming leaves.
Margaret’s 125-year old apple tree.
Voodoo lilie bulbs.
Margaret and her book! Get yours: A Way to Garden
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
197 Comments on “Margaret Roach’s Magical Garden”
Kohlrabi, raw by itself or in a salad or roasted with salt pepper and olive oil. Yum.
So many favorites from the garden, but waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Asparagus to show their purple, green and white heads is my happy dance that spring is here. We are purists and enjoy them steamed with just butter and salt and pepper……oh so good.
Love you Blog. It’s my fav. My favorite vegetable is garden fresh green beans. My favorite way to cook them is as a one pot meal.
12×9 Pan
6 chicken pieces (whatever you like)
Quartered new potatoes
Sliced onions and green beans
Seasoning to tasteIMG_1406.HEIC
Bake for 1 hr or until potatoes are tender.
cabbage! in cabbage rolls, cole slaw, or wilted with prosciutto
I have her original garden book! What a dream to have an updated book! I love RHUBARB any way you make it 🙂
My favorite is broccoli, and I like it with lots of cheese!
Favorite vegetable: butternut squash.
Favorite preparation: butternut squash and maple butter!
Oh, wow!
LOVED this post….This book looks AMAZING! My favorite….tomatoes….and then roasting them with olive oil and gorgonzola….and also tomato tarts with goat cheese and fresh herbs in the summer!
Happy Rich, a sprouting like broccoli from Johnny’s Seeds. I like it chopped up and raw in a green salad. Sadly the groundhogs like it too!
My favorite spring vegetable is asparagus, cooked into a frittata.
Oh – those hellebores are so, so beautiful! My favorite veggies are all in a wonderful ratatouille: eggplant, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and basil.
Leafy greens – from kale to collards to spinach, briefly sauteed with a splash of lemon. I also love kalettes tossed with the momofuku fish sauce dressing, but they’re increasingly getting harder to find!
Yellow crookneck squash – cooked with Parmesan cheese. The best!
Eggplant, thinly sliced and grilled!
my favorite squash is from renee’s garden seeds called trombetta di albenga. It grows on vines like crazy and tastes like ARTICHOKES!!!
My new favorite vegetable is fennel- ever since you published Ina Garten’s root vegetable gratin. I had never had it cooked and love it so much that it is in my garden for the second year.
Currently really enjoying the abundance of swiss chard growing in the garden! The big leaves and rainbow stems are such a pleasure to look at! It’s great in raw and fresh in salads and it’s a dream steamed or sautéed with steamed rice, an over easy egg and drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce and @smittenkitchen ginger/scallion vinaigrette.
Not a vegetable but an herb. Lemon Verbena ice cream! My neighbours wait all summer for it and as a hint they drop off empty containers for me to fill. One friend brought me a plant, (just a bit of a hint)!!
I find it so hard to list one, but I would choose our Hood Starwberries. I love them in a fresh pie or eaten out out of hand.
Now, if I could choose a 2nd, it would be basil, and making fresh pesto or using as an herb.
Asparagus. Steamed for 4 to 5 minutes and then bathed with melted butter or Trader Joe’s hollandaise when I have some.
Swiss Chard is my favorite. I grow it to make Patricia Well’s (Oh lucky you Alex!)Swiss chard torte. So easy, so healthy. I have been making for many years and I never get tired of it!
Tomato sandwiches with basil or tarragon for breakfast, lunch or dinner. 😄
Squash blossoms – hands down the essence of summer for me! Gently washed, dipped into a light batter (for added substance and texture, but not masking any flavor) and lightly sautéed in a good olive oil. Sometimes done the Umbrian way – stuffed (with a paste made from equal amounts of freshly grated bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and minced Italian parsley, a bit of salt & pepper and enough olive oil to hold it all together), dipped in that same batter – or not! – and sautéed in that same good olive oil.
The tomato. And love to make a tomato pie every year
In the spring, fresh early peas, or leeks, or asparagus, or baby artichokes. Can’t decide!
Tomatoes, I love cherry tomatoes and the yellow pear tomatoes, I grow my own, love it.
I eat them for snacking and so many different salads.
Also I love asparagus this time of year, so many different ways. Ok, I just love all vegetables.
I enjoy my little garden in the backyard, it’s my therapy, and look to Margaret’s website for ideas and answers.
Oh cannot forget Green chili and jalapeños, ok I’ll stop now.
Tomatoes!! Juicy red ripe warm tomatoes right from the bush, into my mouth with the juice running down my chin. I am 70 years old and still remember doing this when I was younger, and still delight in the joy of it today!
Green beans freshly picked, sautéed with garlic, chopped tomato and red pepper flakes.
Heard her on WAMC yesterday, inspiring!
Delicata squash…you don’t have to peel.
Rat’s tail radish…radish goodness without having to get your hands dirty.
Oh no…there is a theme here…!
Green Onions, Leeks and Parsley. I love to go out in the garden and pick some before dinner. They make everything special.